18th May 2021 14:17
(Alliance News) - Shoe Zone PLC on Tuesday reported a drop in interim revenue as lockdown restrictions severely hit sales in stores.
Shares were down 8.5% at 67.75 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London.
The Leicester-based footwear retailer posted revenue for the six months to April 3 of GBP40.4 million, 41% lower than the GBP68.9 million seen in the previous year's corresponding period.
The poor revenue performance was driven by a 64% drop in store revenue to GBP22.8 million, from GBP63.3 million a year prior.
In contrast to the dive in sales from physical stores, digital revenue saw an upswing, more than tripling to GBP17.6 million from GBP5.5 million. The firms digital conversion rate also improved to 6.4%, up from 3.5% a year previously.
Shoe Zone said the last 12 months had demonstrated the need to build on its successes within its digital business, with online growth continuing to play a large part in future strategy. Store numbers reduced by 38 to 422 in the period, as Shoe Zone continues a full review of all stores to assess viability.
Shoe Zone's pretax loss widened to GBP2.6 million from GBP2.5 million.
"We have had to adapt and reshape our business to react to extremely difficult trading conditions," Shoe Zone said.
"We enter the second half of the financial year with the hope that we have seen the worst of the Covid-19 impact and look forward to the stores getting back to what we would call normal trading conditions, with no further lockdowns."
All Shoe Zone stores were closed for at least 16 weeks during the six month period, however digital and warehouse teams operated throughout the lockdowns.
Shoe Zone said its dividend policy currently remains on hold.
By Will Paige; [email protected]
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